April turf tips
Time to get out and rake that lawn! Snow cover tends to mat down the lawn, raking your grass loosens it up and allows air flow to dry your lawn out after a long winter. This can help prevent fungal diseases in your turf and reduces the amount of thatch in your lawn. Voles; a mouse like critter, can create a lot of surface damage to your lawn…don’t worry about this; voles do not damage the plant but, simply eat the tops and not the crown of the grass plant as they ‘tunnel’ through your lawn. Simply rake up the debris; the turf will typically recover on its own. Applying a spring fertilizer to your lawn will help. If need be, choose a lawn food that also contains pre-emergent crabgrass control. In general, the best time to apply crabgrass preventer is between the end of March until the first weekend in May (before the soil reaches a temperature of 58 degrees). Once the soil is too warm, the weed seeds have already germinated and the pre-emergent is ineffective. Ensure your lawn mower blade is sharp, the oil is changed and that the mower is cleaned and ready to go! Grass grows quickly in spring, mow the lawn often enough so that you are removing no more than one third of the blades of grass at a time. This will help reduce stress on the grass plants.